Film My return to film with a Fuji

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Location
San Francisco, CA
Name
René
I was looking into film cameras and initially wanted a rangefinder such as a Contax G system, but my better half said there's no reason for the both of us to have one… Thus, I researched point and shoots for one that I could make my own. I originally got a Leica C1, but unfortunately it wasn't firing (despite the description saying so) so I had to return it. Then, I looked into Ricoh GR1… but a lot of folks say the LCD up top is very faulty and the cameras are no longer serviced by Ricoh. Although that wasn't a huge dealbreaker to me, I'd already had bad luck with the previous camera I chose, so I wanted to go with one that would still be reasonably new and serviced.

Enter Fujifilm Klasse W!
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Fuji by renoir.r, on Flickr

This particular camera came up while researching Ricoh's GR1. I'm very impressed with some of the stuff I've seen from it and I love its design, so I stalked eBay and managed to win this at an amazing price brand new.

Will be done with my first test roll to drop off at the lab tomorrow, hoping for good results :)
 
Congratulations! Shooting with film will doubtless amaze and frustrate you. When I shoot film, I'm reminded of how sloppy my shooting habits have become with digital shooting. But with the right film, the right scanning and processing, and you'll have gorgeous colour or black and white that is hard to match with digital.
 
I've lusted after one of these since my Contax T3 days.
I'll be interested to hear your feelings on IQ and handling.
Handling-wise, the build is much more robust than I anticipated. Throughout my research I saw people saying to go Contax T(x) over Fuji Klasse due to build quality, and while I'm not extremely familiar with handling the Contaxes, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the Klasse. It feels very solid and like it can take a reasonable beating if necessary. The grip is very good and I've never felt like it would slip out of my fingers, even before I had a proper strap on it. Command button sizes are perfect for my medium-ish sized hands. Focus is very fast.

As for image quality, I'll have to get back to you on that when I get my test roll back on Monday.

Congratulations! Shooting with film will doubtless amaze and frustrate you. When I shoot film, I'm reminded of how sloppy my shooting habits have become with digital shooting. But with the right film, the right scanning and processing, and you'll have gorgeous colour or black and white that is hard to match with digital.

Thank you! I'm actually in the same boat where digital has made me quite sloppy, so I fully expect my test roll to be terrible. I'm endeavoring to get better because I really love the look film has ー no amount of digital filters or simulations come close to film, in my opinion.
 
There's only about three cameras in my life that I regret selling, and the Klasse S is certainly one of them. Great feel and great results. It was the whole package!
 
Any luck? Looks like a cool camera, I've never seen them before.

A little late, but here are some shots from my test roll! Not the cleanest scans in the world, but I'm very pleased with the results :)
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KlasseW01-12 by renoir.r, on Flickr
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KlasseW01-14 by renoir.r, on Flickr
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KlasseW01-15 by renoir.r, on Flickr

Seems to be rare. I've seen pictures of the Fuji Natura (F1.9), but this camera is out of my price range.
It's pretty rare in the US, I've found. Japanese sellers put up plenty on eBay, but I happened to find one brand new at a really great price.

There's only about three cameras in my life that I regret selling, and the Klasse S is certainly one of them. Great feel and great results. It was the whole package!
It's wonderful! I really need to make a case for it, but it's exciting to be shooting with film again now that I have a proper scanner.
 
They look clean enough to me, but the color cast is so blue!


were you using expired film or did the lab cross-process them for you?

Yeah, very blue/violetish because it was expired film :) I thought I'd fix the color whilst scanning, but since I chose to use the expired film as a test roll to begin with, I figured best to leave it that way. Almost done with another roll to drop off tomorrow!
 
I don't find the colours upsetting but a BW conversion would level things out

The colours I get from Fujicolour C200 asa are actually more muddy than the digital output from Fuji cameras I've used
 
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